The Original Scene of Anthropology: Levaillant’s Illustrations of Visiting the Gonaqua

Abstract

François Levaillant (also Le Vaillant, born Vaillant) was the most influential early traveler to South Africa. His narrative illustrations of his travels, however, have not been widely studied, in part because many were not published in his travel books. Levaillant’s role as a founding figure of African anthropology has received increased attention, but illustrations of his first visit to the Gonaqua deserve greater scrutiny, in part because they differ so markedly from his written account. This article argues, following Matthys Bokhorst, that Levaillant conceptualized and produced most of the illustrations himself and concludes that he gave the illustrations an allegorical force as a way of re-viewing, re-considering and theorizing the significance of his visit and his role as observer and anthropologist.